


Contraband

by LetoaSai



Series: Secrets [17]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cloud will get his way, Family Fluff, Hormones, M/M, Mpreg, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Sequel, hiding snacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29392749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetoaSai/pseuds/LetoaSai
Summary: One way or another, Cloud was going to get what he needed. Even if that meant going behind his husbands back.
Relationships: Cloud/Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Leon (Kingdom Hearts)/Squall Leonhart/Cloud Strife
Series: Secrets [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593604
Comments: 51
Kudos: 84





	Contraband

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts 
> 
> Post Secrets Kept.
> 
> Everyone knew it would happen.

Cloud knew he could depend on his children. They wouldn’t let him down. The problem was picking which one, and he’d given it a great deal of thought. 

Sora could keep a secret. He was more cunning than most gave him credit for but he had a weakness within the family. He hated lying to Squall. 

Sora was out. 

Ventus wore his heart on his sleeve. Even without saying a word everyone would know there was something on his mind. Even if he’d never say a word, it was enough to make a few key people suspicious. 

Ventus was out. 

Roxas and Xion were a devious pair, both together and apart. Cloud could appreciate that. But they had a problem with authority and would ask far too many questions. He didn’t have time for that. 

Roxas and Xion were out. 

Vanitas however...He wouldn’t ask right away because he wouldn’t care. He could travel and not be seen. He could get Cloud what he needed and no one would be any wiser it had been done. Yes, Vanitas would be the one. 

Cloud had summoned his darkness child to him with a glance and in only a few minutes had sent Vanitas out on his errand. 

He was feeling more and more like a caged animal and his husband was going to become increasingly insufferable. There was no end in sight. 

After a while, all Cloud could do was pace the length of Vanitas’ room until he returned. For the time being it was a safe place, a secret place where he couldn’t be stared at. Watched. Stalked. This was still just the beginning.

“You’re acting weird, pops.” Vanitas commented, reappearing out of the darkness with a grocery bag on his arm. “Do i want to know?” 

“Probably not.” Cloud said easily, taking the bag offered to him with a hint of excitement. Finally. There was a jar of peanut butter and several packs of peanut butter crackers and peanut butter cookies. A successful mission. 

Vanitas raised a brow, watching Cloud open the container of peanut butter and dipping his finger in it to taste it. 

“Thanks.” 

Vanitas blinked. “Right. You know there’s peanut butter in the kitchen right?” 

“I’m not that stupid.” Cloud mused. That jar was being carefully watched. Hell, there was probably a line on the side of the jar, measuring what was taken out at any given time. 

“What?” Vanitas’ eyes narrowed, suddenly wondering what he was missing. 

Cloud paused, setting the bag down on Vanitas' dresser and pulling out a pack of crackers, dipping one in the peanut butter before eating it. “Would you mind very much if i kept this in here?” 

“No?” Vanitas said slowly, cautiously. “Why?” 

Cloud swallowed, looking visibly happier. “This won’t be the first place checked for it.” 

“Right…” Vanitas said, clearly not understanding but he was happy to assume Cloud was just crazy. “Sure. i guess.” 

“Thanks. I don’t know if you’ll ever understand this but i appreciate it.” Cloud smiled at him, eating one more before licking his fingers clean and putting everything away. He went as far as to put the bag on the floor so it wasn’t visible from the doorway. 

“I guess i just don’t see why it’s a secret but whatever.”

Cloud hummed, “Sometimes people can be unreasonable, even when we love them.” 

Vanitas looked confused still but if Cloud wasn’t going to offer an explanation, he wasn’t going to ask, not just yet anyway. Something was going on and he planned on playing ignorant of it. 

Cloud smiled faintly, thanking his son again before slipping out of the room. He’d need to be careful about that. His cover would be blown if he was seen coming out of Vanitas’ room too often. 

~

A full week and a half had passed before Squall started getting suspicious. Cloud could see it in his eyes. He watched Cloud closely and had even gotten the girls in on it without an explanation. Tifa was sure Cloud was getting sick and Yuffie thought there was a bet between them. Aerith noticed Squall’s shift in behavior, but they were all still trying to get used to his changes in personality. Leon becoming Squall again had been easy enough to accept but there were little things that occasionally surprised them. 

It wasn’t every day a group of friends found out two of them had been married.

“Get away from me.” Cloud said casually when Squall walked into the kitchen and leaned against the door frame. Cloud was helping Aerith and Yuffie cook. It was their turn. 

Cloud also felt inclined to help out when more of his children were under the same roof. 

Vanitas had decided to stay in Radiant Garden for a time but Ventus returned to the Land of Departure. Xion and Roxas returned to Twilight Town and Sora continued to travel with Riku and occasionally Kairi.

Still, at least every other week they’d all flock back to Radiant Garden for a day or a long weekend to spend some time with the family they’d just gained. With all of them around for dinner, Cloud put forth a little extra effort to his chores. 

“Not nice.” Squall mused, hints of suspicions in his tone. 

Cloud glanced at him, brow raised. “I wonder why i wouldn’t be nice to you.” 

“Are you two fighting?” Yuffie asked and a faint snicker in her tone. She loved to poke fun, but she loved the two of them together more. Finding out that the pair of them were married had been so damn adorable to her. That didn’t mean she didn’t like to instigate. 

“No.” Squall said simply. 

Cloud glanced at her. “You’d know if we were.” 

“Weapons drawn?” Yuffie grinned. 

“Something like that.” Both said simultaneously.

Yuffie snickered, “I dunno, i bet you both do that passive aggressive thing.” 

Both men turned, giving her a blank stare that asked her to kindly stay out of their business and maybe admitting that she was a little too spot on. A second later, Aerith was nudging her with her hip. 

“Could you and Leon open the closet door so the extra chairs can come out? Also bring out the dishes.” She smiled, loving a magic house and it’s capabilities. 

“Yep.” Yuffie said, bouncing off and Squall followed along with a much more irritated ‘Hn.’ 

Cloud and Aerith were used to working around each other and could do so with relative ease. She gave him a few beats to gather his thoughts and waited until she would hear Squall and Yuffie talking before she took a turn. 

“So what’s going on?” 

“Hm?” 

“That doesn’t work on me.” She reminded him. “There’s something going on. You’re being flighty and Leon’s watching you like you’re about to combust. Sure you didn’t have a fight?” 

Cloud sighed. “No. We did not have a fight. We just disagree on some things.” She raised a disbelieving brow, crossing her arms and nodding for him to continue. “Just because i love him doesn’t mean we don’t disagree.” 

Aerith leaned a little closer, staring at his face as if that would reveal some kind of secret to her. “I dunno. He’s been following you around like a lost puppy. Something to share, Cloud?” Her eyes sparkled. 

Cloud caught her eye, staring back while she bit her own lip to keep from smiling to wide. “Shut up.” 

Aerith bounced on her heels and said nothing, just turned around to get back to cooking. “Okay.” 

“Okay.” Cloud agreed. Sometimes he could really appreciate Aerith. 

~

Cloud made it to the full two week mark before he fucked up. He’d been so careful too. He’d been relaxing in the window seat, listening to Roxas and Xion complain about tests they were taking in what they called ‘normal people school’. They both loved and hated the experience. 

Really he didn’t think it was too dissimilar from how Sora and Riku felt about school. They liked to see their friends, they enjoyed going someplace daily. They didn’t mind the routine, but if given the choice, they’d have been out on the beach. They’d cheered excitedly to learn more swordsmanship or go on their pretend adventures. 

It didn’t surprise Cloud that they conveniently forgot about going to school and focused on their keyblade work instead. 

Roxas and Xion starting out life with the adventure had them yearning for normalcy. As far as Cloud was concerned they were plenty young enough to still figure out what they wanted. 

“I’m just saying, adding letters to numbers is stupid.” Roxas was pouting. 

“Interesting that you could just jump into it though.” Cloud commented. 

Xion hummed. “I guess maybe we went in knowing what Sora already knew? Some of it at least.” 

“No wonder we’re idiots.” Roxas muttered dryly. 

“Roxas!” Xion scolded with a pout. They teased Sora far too much for not being book smart.

Vanitas wandered in with a chuckle. “To be far, Roxas probably has a little Ven in him too. With as many times as his memory has taken a hit, you could have easily been affected.” 

“Thanks.” Roxas deadpanned, not amused. 

“You’re welcome.” Vanitas smirked. 

Xion snorted. “Aren’t you both Ven and Sora too? You’re in the same boat.” 

“Well yeah, but i’m not trying to go to high school.” Vanitas shrugged. Cloud had a sneaking suspicion that Vanitas wasn’t going to volunteer the fact that he and Naminé had been getting reading material from Ansem the Wise that they were later quizzed on. It was a casual home schooling of sorts. 

Roxas heaved a sigh. “Yeah. I mean i like it but it sucks too. My teachers don’t like us randomly taking time off either.” 

Aerith walked into the room with a tray of drinks to pass out to everyone. “I’m sure you have a dad or two that could write you a note.” 

“Would that work?” Xion raised a brow, smirking at the idea before putting on a strange voice. “Dear Mrs. Turner, please excuse my daughter, Xion from class today. She was summoned by an ancient sorcerer to do battle with evil for the next few days. We would appreciate you not giving out homework as catching up on missed work is hard after kicking heartless ass.” 

Roxas and Vanitas both rolled with laughter but Cloud’s eyes narrowed. 

“What voice was that? What accent was that? I do not sound like that.” 

Aerith laughed, handing Cloud a drink which he took gratefully. “She’ll have to work on her ‘dad’ voice.” 

Roxas was nearly in tears. “I would love.. Just _once_ , to give my teacher a note like that.” 

“Yeah,” Xion grinned. “Then when they call one of them in to talk to the principal, they can just stroll in wearing their swords.” 

Vanitas’ shoulders were shaking. “Are you finding joy in pops scaring some normal people?” 

“I mean… a little bit.” Xion mused, thanking Aerith for her drink. She sipped it appreciatively and nudged Roxas to do the same. The two of them had been getting cooking lessons from Aerith when they were around and were fascinated by most things she made. 

“Eh, i’d do it.” Cloud agreed. 

“I’m surprised you haven’t already.” Vanitas said dryly. Cloud was such a strange father.

Cloud shrugged. “Everyone on Destiny Island more or less knew me. Most people knew there wasn’t something quite right with me. Hard to go from soldier, to merc, to stay at home dad. Fortunately, Sora never got in much trouble at school. He saved that for when he was home.” 

“Of course he did.” Vanitas rolled his eyes. 

“I dunno.” Roxas muttered. “Nothing would be as funny was Cloud walking down the hallway of a high school with his fusion sword strapped to his back.” 

Xion just snickered. “Dad with his gunblade.” 

“Now, now.” Aerith laughed softly. “Don’t taken advantage of your scary fathers.” 

Cloud made a face at her. “Really not all that scary.” 

“No.” She smirked. “But if you got called to their high school, they better have done something wrong or the school will have all the regrets for having to deal with you. Either of you” 

“Likely.” Cloud grunted. 

“Still think it word be worth the laugh,” Roxas muttered, glancing up when Squall came into the room, slipping his leather jacket on. 

“Hey, patrolling?” Xion asked. 

Squall offered her a faint smile. “No. Heading to the castle for a few minutes. I think one of those idiots guards was wandering around the security room again and Tron doesn’t like it. They can either tell me what they want or they can stop skulking around."

Roxas couldn't help but snicker, knowing the ‘idiot guards’ were Dilan and Aeleus. “There’s something incredible vindicating about two of the people who terrorized me for a year being petrified of you.” 

Squall smirked. “I do what i can. They’ll learn to be upfront with me or continue to be afraid.” He said, weaving through the room towards Cloud. 

“Ass,” Cloud chuckled. “Don’t stay there all damn night again.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Squall rolled his eyes. He’d done better with the over working since regaining his memories. He still did too much but he had a family to prioritize now. “Won’t be long.” He leaned down to peck his lips against Cloud’s. 

“Ugh, domestic.” Vanitas grumbled. 

Aerith didn’t bother to hide her smile. “Nothing wrong with that, is there?”

Squall wasn’t listening though, he just licked his lips once and narrowed his eyes at his husband. 

“What?” Cloud blinked. 

Squall leaned down, kissing him again. 

“Gross. Children in the room.” Roxas commented, ignoring the way Xion swatted at him to not interrupt their moment. 

Squall pulled away. “I knew you were sneaking!” 

“That’s not proof.” Cloud said immediately. 

“I can taste it you fucking liar.” 

“That doesn’t mean anything.” Cloud added. 

Squall scoffed. “Who’s been helping you?”

“Now you’re overreacting.” 

“You have to eat something besides peanut butter!” 

“I am!” 

“And i believed that a minute and a half ago.” Squall said. “Cloud, for fucks sake.” 

“I eat other stuff.” 

Squall shook his head, “I will do a spot inspection of this entire house. I’ll find it.” 

“You’re overreacting.” Cloud repeated. 

“I’m starting with Sora’s room.” Squall said immediately, turning to the kids to point at each one of them. “Your rooms are next. Stop enabling him!” 

The teens just stared. 

“Dad, what?” Roxas blinked. 

“What’s going on?” Xion asked. 

“What’s wrong with peanut butter?” Vanitas blinked. 

“It’s all he eats!” Squall said, his frustration dialing to ten as he strode back into the house. “Checking every room!” 

“Squall!” Cloud groaned but he knew the tone of a commander on a mission. 

Roxas jumped up, “Hey! You can’t just go through my room!” 

“Watch me!” Squall yelled, already down the hall. 

“Hey!” Xion pouted, dashing behind Roxas as both attempted to head Squall off before he started rifling through every room in the house. "Dad!"

The three that remained in the living room sat in silence for a beat. 

“Cloud?” Aerith started. 

“Yeah?” 

“Cravings?” Her smile was understanding. 

“Like you wouldn’t believe. He’s a damn peanut butter jailer.” Cloud muttered. 

Vanitas scoffed. “I’m sorry?” He sounded aggravated. A flood appeared at his feet with a familiar grocery store bag. “Have i been smuggling contraband into the house!?” 

Aerith’s hands flew to her mouth to hide her giggles as Cloud made a pleased noise and reached for it. In only a second he had a peanut butter cookie pulled out to eat. 

“What the fuck?” Vanitas frowned. 

Cloud sighed. “Look, i want it. Squall can shut up. When he’s the one pregnant he gets to eat whatever he wants too.”

Aerith couldn’t help her laughter. “That poor man is driving himself crazy trying to make sure you’re diet resembles something nutritious.” 

“Fool.” Cloud muttered. 

“You’re… pregnant?” Vanitas blinked, completely sidetracked. Knowing it had happened and knowing it was happening right now were somehow different. 

“Yes.” 

“And dad’s freaking out…” Vanitas was trying to absorb the information he’d just been given. He looked down at the bag. “So...Is peanut butter bad for babies? Did i hurt the baby or something?” He was tense, looking oddly like he was about to panic over the whole idea. 

“Vani, no.” Cloud said softly, getting up to grab Vanitas by his arm before he could bolt. “Kid, no.” He dragged Vanitas into a hug. “You haven't done anything wrong.” 

“But dad…” 

“Is overreacting. It’s how he copes because there is literally nothing he can do to assist in this process.” Cloud promised, finding it oddly adorable that Vanitas’ first instinct was worry that he hurt the baby.

“Then...why?” 

“I am at a stage where i'm having food cravings, and who the hell knows why, but it’s always peanut butter. Craving peanut butter was how i even figured out i was pregnant. There’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, if i don’t get at least some, i promise you i’d make everyone in this house as miserable as i am, especially in the mornings.” 

“Oh Cloud.” Aerith’s voice was a mixture of laughter and complete sympathy. “Squall just wants to make sure you’re healthy.” 

Cloud nodded. “And that’s fine. He needs to worry about my happiness too and right now that happiness lies with him not hiding the fucking jar of peanut butter when i want a sandwich at midnight.” 

Aerith was nearly knocked off her own feet with her laughter. 

“So…” Vanitas pulled away from Cloud, looking up at him nervously. “The baby is okay?” 

“The baby is great.” Cloud offered him a smile. “Also, right now only Squall and Aerith know about the baby. I wanted to wait until i was a few more weeks along.” 

Vanitas nodded once. “Secret. Okay. Got it.” 

“Yeah.” Cloud said with a grin, bending down to pick up the bag. “Now put these in Aerith’s room please.” 

“What?” Aerith smirked. “Why my room?” 

“He’s not stupid enough to look through your room.” Cloud said. She snorted once but didn’t argue that one. 

Vanitas just hummed, his flood taking the bag away again. “So… am i continuing with the smuggling?” 

“Yes, yes you are. You may deny everything to Squall’s face.” 

“Tell a lie?” Vanitas smirked. “Yeah, i was the best choice for that, wasn’t i?” 

He was. Cloud had calculated correctly from the start...

**Author's Note:**

> Series Order 
> 
> Gifts  
> A Home that Heals  
> First Adventure  
> Tourney  
> Broken Chain  
>  **Secrets Kept**  
>  Design Time. (set during chapter 5 of Secrets Kept)   
> Judgement (Set during chapter 5 of Secrets Kept)  
> Impart your Wisdom  
> Reunions  
> Split Chain  
> Look to the Rain (Flashback scenes set about 8 years prior)  
> Breakthrough  
> Contraband   
> Misfits  
> Homes store memories   
> New Normal


End file.
